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In his first dream, Pharaoh sees himself “standing over the
River.”
And, behold, there came up out of the River seven cows,
handsome and fat of flesh; and they fed in the reed
grass.
Mikeitz
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Torah Reading for Week of December 21-27, 2003
And, behold, seven other cows came up after them out
of the River, ugly and lean of flesh; and stood by the
other cows upon the brink of the River.
And the ugly and lean cows ate up the seven handsome
and fat cows.
“And it came to pass at the end (mikeitz) of two years, and
Pharaoh was dreaming...”
Thirteen years after Joseph’s own dreams got him sold into
slavery, and two years after his interpretation of the Chief
Butler’s and Chief Baker’s dreams failed to get him out of
prison, the saga of Joseph is moved along by another pair of
dreams—these dreamt by Pharaoh the king of Egypt.
Commentary
Pharaoh wakes, but immediately falls asleep to dream again:
Behold, seven ears of grain came up on one stalk, plump
and good. And, behold, seven ears, thin and blasted by
the east wind, sprang up after them.
And the seven thin ears devoured the seven plump and
full ears.
prison; that morning, he woke up and remembered it.
AND IT CAME TO PASS...(GENESIS 41:1)
(Midrash HaGadol)
The three Torah sections (Vayeishev, Mikeitz and Vayigash) that relate the
story of Joseph and his brothers... are always read before, during or immediately after the festival of Chanukah.
Since “to everything is its season, and a time for every purpose”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1), certainly the arrangement of the festivals of the year,
which are the “appointed times of G-d” (Leviticus 23:4), as well as the festivals and fasts instituted by the Sages, all have a special connection to the
Torah readings in whose weeks they fall, since everything is masterminded
by G-d. Thus the story of Joseph is destined to be repeated with the royal
Hashmona’i family in the Greek era...
BEHOLD, HE STOOD OVER THE RIVER (41:1)
The wicked see themselves as standing over their gods, as it says, “And
Pharaoh dreamed; and, behold, he stood over the river” (the Nile being the
arch idol of Egypt). But as for the righteous, their G-d stands over them, as
it says (regarding Jacob’s dream), “Behold, G-d stood over him (Genesis
28:13)
(Midrash Rabbah)
THE RIVER (41:1)
(Shaloh)
I.e., the Nile. The verse refers to it as the yeor (lit., “the canal”), because the
whole country was full of artificially constructed canals which the Nile
flows filled with water, since rain does not regularly fall in Egypt.
Every affliction to befall man has a set time to end; as it is written, “An end
He set to darkness, and every limit He investigates” (Job 28:3). This is said
regarding Joseph, who was ten years in prison [when he asked the chief butler to intercede for him] but G-d investigated and saw that it is necessary for
him to be imprisoned for another two years...
(Rashi)
AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END OF TWO YEARS (41:1)
“In every sorrow there is profit” (Proverbs 14:23). This, too, is said in
regard to Joseph, who suffered in prison and then profited from it [in
becoming] ruler over Egypt...
Pharaoh saw the cows and sheaves coming out of the River, for sustenance
comes to Egypt only from the Nile, and famine, too, comes only from the
Nile.
(Midrash Rabbah)
(Midrash Tanchuma)
AND HE SENT AND CALLED FOR ALL THE MAGICIANS OF EGYPT, AND ALL HER
WISE MEN... BUT THERE WAS NONE THAT COULD INTERPRET THEM TO
PHARAOH (41:8)
Should it not say, “and Pharaoh dreamed”? But this is to teach us that for
those two years Pharaoh would see this dream each and every night, but
would not remember it, until the time came for Joseph to come out of
There were indeed interpreters of the dreams, but “none that could interpret
them to Pharaoh”—their interpretations were unacceptable to him. They
said: the seven good cows mean that you will beget seven daughters; the
seven ill-favored cows, that you will bury seven daughters; the seven full
ears of grain, that you will conquer seven provinces; the seven thin ears, that
AND PHARAOH WAS DREAMING (41:1)
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The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven
good ears are seven years; the dream is one.
And the seven thin and ill-favored cows that came up
after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears
blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of
famine...
Mikeitz
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Torah Reading for Week of December 21-27, 2003
None of Pharaoh’s soothsayers can offer a satisfactory interpretation, until the Chief Butler remembers the young Hebrew
slave who so accurately interpreted his and the Chief Baker’s
dreams. So Joseph is summoned from the dungeon to the
palace.
The Rise of Joseph
“I have heard say of you,” says Pharaoh, “that you can understand a dream to interpret it.” “It is not me,” says Joseph. “Gd shall give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
Pharaoh relates his dreams, and Joseph offers the following
interpretation:
The dream of Pharaoh is one; G-d has declared to
Pharaoh what He is about to do.
Commentary
seven provinces will revolt against you..
(Midrash Rabbah)
THEN SPOKE THE CHIEF BUTLER TO PHARAOH... “THERE WAS THERE WITH
HEBREW, A SLAVE... AND HE INTERPRETED TO US OUR DREAMS”
(41:9-12)
US A LAD, A
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. And there shall arise after them
seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt...
As for the repetition of the dream to Pharaoh twice: it is
because the thing is fast determined by G-d, and G-d will
shortly bring it to pass.
Joseph proceeds to advise Pharaoh on how to prepare for the
coming events. Pharaoh should “seek out a man, understanding and wise, and appoint him over the land of Egypt”; this
viceroy should oversee the collection and storage of the surplus food that will be produced in the seven years of plenty,
for use during the years of famine.
“Since G-d has shown you all this,” says Pharaoh to Joseph,
“there is none as understanding and wise as you. You shall be
over my house, and according to your word shall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than you.”
A woman came to Rabbi Eliezer and said to him: “I saw in a dream that the
loft of the upper story of my house was split open.” “You will conceive a
son,” he told her. She went away and it happened so. Again she dreamed the
same and came and told it to Rabbi Eliezer, who gave her the same interpretation, and it happened so. She dreamed this a third time and repaired to
him but did not find him, so she told her dream to his disciples. “You will
bury your husband,” they told her, and this did happen. Rabbi Eliezer, hearing a cry of wailing, asked what was amiss, whereupon they related to him
what had occurred. “You have killed the man,” he upbraided them. “Is it not
written, ‘And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was’”?
Accursed are the wicked, for they never do a kindness thoroughly. In mentioning Joseph, the Chief Butler speaks of him in disparaging language: “a
lad”—unwise and unfitted for a high position; “a Hebrew,” who does not
even know our language; “a slave,” and it is written in the bylaws of Egypt
that a slave may neither become a ruler nor dress in princely robes..
Rabbi Yochanan said: All dreams are dependent on the interpretation given
to them, save a dream about wine. Sometimes a dream of drinking wine
bodes well, and sometimes it spells misfortune. When a scholar drinks, it is
a good sign; when an ignoramus drinks, it spells misfortune.
(Rashi)
(Midrash Rabbah)
AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS HE INTERPRETED TO US, SO IT WAS: I WAS
(41:13)
AND PHARAOH SAID TO JOSEPH: “IN MY DREAM, I AM STANDING ON THE
RIVER. AND, BEHOLD, THERE COME OUT OF THE RIVER SEVEN
COWS...” (41:17-18)
RESTORED TO MY OFFICE, AND HE WAS HANGED
BANK OF THE
Said Rabbi Banaah: There were twenty-four interpreters of dreams in
Jerusalem. Once I dreamt a dream and I went around to all of them and they
all gave different interpretations, and all were fulfilled, thus confirming that
which is said, “All dreams follow the mouth.”
In contrast, Joseph saw in his dream (recounted in the beginning of the previous Parshah) that, “We were binding sheaves in the field...”
Said Rabbi Eleazar: Whence do we know that all dreams follow the mouth?
Because it says, “And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was.”
Raba said: This is only if the interpretation corresponds to the content of the
dream: for it says, “To each man according to his dream he did interpret.”
Both Pharaoh and Joseph behold the future in their dreams, but with a significant difference. To Pharaoh life is a river, with himself standing on the
riverbank-outside of its flow, a passive bystander to what transpires. To
Joseph life is a field within which he toils, laboring at “binding sheaves”—
gathering its diverse stalks and binding them into an integral whole..
(Talmud, Berachot 55b)
Many are seduced by the enticements of Pharaoic life. “We remember the
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bread... And all countries came to Egypt to Joseph to buy
grain; because the famine was so severe in all the earth.”
The Brothers in Egypt
Mikeitz
The Land of Cannan, too, is afflicted by famine. Jacob, hearing that food is to be had in Egypt, sends his ten older sons
there to purchase grain. “But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother,
Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, ‘Lest misfortune
befall him.’”
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Torah Reading for Week of December 21-27, 2003
Pharaoh gives Joseph a new name-Tzaphnath Paaneach
(“Decipherer of Secrets”)-and a wife, Asenat, who bears him
two sons: Menasseh (“Forgetting”), so named “because G-d
has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house”;
and Ephraim (“Fruitfulness”), “because G-d has made me
fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Joseph oversees the implementation of his plan, so that when
the years of famine commence, “there was hunger in all the
lands [of the region]; but in all the land of Egypt there was
The brothers arrive in Egypt and come before Joseph; “and
they bowed themselves down before him with their faces to
the ground.” Joseph remembers his dreams.
Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him...
And he made himself strange to them, and spoke harshly
to them; and he said to them, “Where do you come
from?”
Commentary
AND JOSEPH... PASSED THROUGH ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT (41:43-45)
fish that we ate in Egypt for free,” the children of Israel grumbled (Numbers
11:5) when G-d had stripped them of the shackles and security of slavery.
Life is a free lunch in Pharaoh’s Egypt; there are no choices in your life, but
neither is there the anxiety and responsibility they entail. You simply stand
on the riverbank and watch the cows and years follow and consume one
another.
What is the meaning of the verse (Genesis 49:22), said in regard to Joseph,
“The daughters strode upon the ramparts”? As Joseph rode in the chariot
across the land of Egypt, the daughters of Egypt were walking atop the
walls and throwing golden rings to him, hoping that he would look at their
beauty...
Pharaoh’s vision may be every vegetable’s utopia, but there is little satisfaction and no fulfillment in his free fish. It is only in the toilsome labor in
the field of life that the most important freedom of all is to be found: the
freedom to achieve and create.
(from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)
AND ALL THE PLENTY SHALL BE FORGOTTEN IN THE LAND OF EGYPT...
(41:30)
This is the interpretation of the fact that, in the dream, the lean cows (and
ears) swallowed up the fat.
(Rashi)
AND PHARAOH SAID TO JOSEPH...THERE IS NONE AS UNDERSTANDING AND
WISE AS YOU (41:39)
“Understanding” (navon) is one who can deduce one thing from another;
“wise” (chacham) is one who possesses wisdom. A navon who is not a
chacham is like a mighty warrior who is unarmed; a chacham who is not a
navon is like a weakling with armaments; a navon and chacham is a strong
and armed warrior.
(Midrash)
[PHARAOH] MADE HIM TO RIDE IN THE SECOND CHARIOT WHICH HE HAD...
Seasons of the Soul | Parshah | Week at Glance
(Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer)
AND HE GAVE HIM TO WIFE ASENAT THE DAUGHTER OF POTI-PHERA (41:45)
Most commentaries identify Poti-Phera with Potiphar, Joseph’s former master.
According to a Midrashic account cited by a number of the commentaries,
Asenat was the daughter of Dinah from Shechem. Banished from Jacob’s
house, Asenat wandered to Egypt and was raised by Potiphar and his wife.
When the daughters of Egypt threw their jewelry at Joseph (see above),
Asenat threw a golden amulet which identified her as a granddaughter of
Jacob, and Joseph took her as his wife.
AND [JOSEPH] COLLECTED THE FOOD... THE PRODUCE OF EACH CITY’S SURROUNDING FIELDS HE PLACED WITHIN IT (41:48)
Each part of the land preserves its own produce; one mixes from the local
dust into the grain and this keeps it from spoiling.
(Rashi’s commentary)
Also the produce of man requires some “local dust” as a preservative, lest
it rot.
The greater a person’s achievements, the more susceptible they are to corruption. A fruitful yield in life—material or spiritual—may breed an arrogance that corrodes all that is good and G-dly in it. The solution is a dose of
dust. One who saturates his successes with humility and self-effacement,
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the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no
more.”
Joseph challenges them to prove the truth of their words. “By
the life of Pharaoh,” he swears, “you shall not go out of here
unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you,
and let him fetch your brother, and you shall be kept in
prison, that your words may be proved...”
Mikeitz
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Torah Reading for Week of December 21-27, 2003
And they said: “From the land of Canaan to buy food...”
And he said to them: “You are spies; to see the nakedness of the land you have come.”
And they said to him: “No, my lord, but to buy food have
your servants come...Your servants are twelve brothers,
the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold,
Commentary
guarantees their preservation as positive and constructive forces in his own
life and the lives of his fellows.
(from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)
AND TO JOSEPH WERE BORN TWO SONS... (41:50)
In galut (exile), a person is deprived of his “home”—of the environment
that preserves his faith, nourishes his growth and spurs his achievements.
But precisely because it deprives him of the support of his natural environment, the state of galut compels the person to turn to the inner reaches of
his soul and extract from there reserves of commitment and determination
never tapped in more tranquil times.
This is one positive function of galut. In addition, exile broadens a person’s
horizons, bringing him in contact with things and circumstances he never
would have encountered at home. Many of these are negative things and circumstances, contrary to the values of his homeland and tradition; but everything in G-d’s world possesses a positive potential. When a person learns to
resist and reject the negative aspects of these alien things, he can then
redeem the “sparks of holiness” they harbor at their core by utilizing their
essence toward good and G-dly ends.
Joseph in Egypt experienced these two stages in the positive exploitation of
galut. In naming his first son Manasseh (“forgetting”), Joseph referred to
his struggles in an environment intent on eradicating all memory of home
and roots, and how his battle against forgetting and disconnection uncovered his deepest potentials. His second son, Ephraim, so named “because Gd has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction,” represents the
second dividend of galut—the manner in which the “land of affliction”
itself is exploited as a source of growth and productivity..
(from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)
AND THE PEOPLE CRIED TO PHARAOH FOR BREAD; AND PHARAOH SAID TO
EGYPT “GO TO JOSEPH; WHAT HE SAYS TO YOU, DO” (41:55)
He throws them all into prison, but three days later he releases all except for Shimon, to be detained until they bring
Benjamin to Egypt.
Remorse
“But we are guilty,” say Joseph’s brothers to each other, when
faced with this new, unexpected trouble, “concerning our
brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he
pleaded to us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress
has come upon us.”
When the famine in Egypt became severe, the Egyptians went to Joseph,
crying, “Give us bread.” “Woe to me that I must feed the uncircumcised,”
he exclaimed; “Go and circumcise yourselves,” he said to them.
So they went to Pharaoh and cried out before him. “Go to Joseph,” he bade
them. “We have gone to him,” they answered, “and he commands us to circumcise ourselves. Did we not tell you originally that he is a Hebrew and it
is not fitting for a Hebrew to wield authority over us?”
“Fools,” said Pharaoh, “did not a herald continually proclaim before him
during the seven years of plenty, ‘A famine is coming, a famine is coming!’
Why then did you not keep in reserve the produce of a year or two?”
Bursting into tears they replied, “Even the grain which we have left at home
has rotted.” “Has no flour been left from yesterday and the day before?” he
asked. “Even the bread in our baskets has gone moldy,” they told him.
“Fools,” he answered. “If the grain rots at his decree, what if he decrees
against us and we die! Go rather to him, and even if he tells you to cut off
something of your flesh, obey him and do all that he bids you.”
(Midrash Rabbah; Rashi)
JACOB SAW THAT THERE WAS GRAIN IN EGYPT. AND JACOB SAID TO HIS SONS:
“WHY SHOULD YOU DISPLAY YOURSELVES?” (42:1)
I.e., why should you give the impression to the children of Ishmael and the
children of Esau that you are sated? For at that time they still had food.
(Rashi)
Our Rabbis have taught: If one journeys from a place where they’re not fasting to a place where they are fasting, he should fast with them... If he forgot and ate and drank, he should not make it public, nor may he indulge in
delicacies, as it is written: “And Jacob said to his sons: ‘Why should you
display yourselves?’”
(Talmud, Taanit 10b)
ALL
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On the way back to Canaan, one of the brothers discovers
that the money he paid for the grain he bought has been
placed back in his sack; this greatly alarms the brothers, who
worry what new libel is in store for them. (When they reach
home, they all find that their money has likewise been
returned)
Mikeitz
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Torah Reading for Week of December 21-27, 2003
To which Reuben responds: “Did I not speak to you, saying,
‘Do not sin against the child,’ and you would not hear?
Therefore, behold, his blood is being claimed.”
And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he
spoke to them by an interpreter. And [Joseph] turned
himself about from them, and wept.
Commentary
At first Jacob refuses to let Benjamin go to Egypt. “You have
bereaved me of my children,” he cries. “Joseph is gone, and
Shimon is gone, and you will take Benjamin away...” But
when the food they purchased in Egypt runs out, Judah
makes the following appeal to his father:
“Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we
may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.
“I will be his guarantor, of my hand shall you claim him;
if I bring him not to you and set him before you, then I
shall be guilty towards you for all eternity.”
Joseph took his cup, struck it, and exclaimed: “You are spies.”
AND JOSEPH’S TEN BROTHERS WENT DOWN TO BUY GRAIN IN EGYPT (42:3)
“We are upright men,” they replied.
Why are they called “Joseph’s brothers” and not “Jacob’s sons”? In the
beginning they did not treat him with brotherly love but sold him; subsequently, however, they regretted it. Every day they would say, “Let us go
and inquire about him and restore him to his father.” And when Jacob bade
them go down to Egypt, they all resolved to show him brotherly love [and
seek to find him].
“So why did you not all enter through one gate?”
(Midrash Rabbah)
BUT BENJAMIN, JOSEPH’S BROTHER, JACOB SENT NOT WITH HIS BRETHREN;
FOR HE SAID, “LEST MISFORTUNE BEFALL HIM” (42:4)
Jacob feared that Rachel’s children were destined to perish on the road. He
said to himself: their mother died on the road; Joseph I sent on the way, and
he never returned; perhaps Benjamin would meet the same fate?
(Midrash HaChefetz)
AND THE SONS OF ISRAEL CAME TO BUY GRAIN, AMONG THOSE THAT CAME...
(42:5)
Joseph knew that his brothers were coming to Egypt. What did he do? He
placed guards at the ten gates of the city and ordered them to record the
names of all who entered. In the evening they brought him their lists. One
read, “Reuben the son of Jacob”; another, “Shimon the son of Jacob,” and
so on. He ordered that all the storehouses be shut down except for one, and
he gave their names to the official in charge of that storehouse, instructing
him: “When these men written down here come, bring them to me.”
Several days passed but they did not come. He sent his men to search for
them and they found them in the street of harlots. What were they doing
there? They thought: “Maybe because Joseph was of handsome appearance
he was set in a [harlot’s] tent.” They were arrested and brought to Joseph.
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“Our father bade us do so.”
“And what business had you in the street of harlots?”
“We have lost something and were searching for it.”
“I see in my cup that two of you destroyed a great city and that you sold
your brother to Arabs,” he told them.
They were immediately seized with trembling and exclaimed: “We are
twelve.”
“Where then are the other two?”
“One is dead and the other is with our father.”
“Then go and bring him to me.”
He took Shimon and bound him before their eyes, because it was he who
had pushed him into the pit, and separated him from Levi, lest they devise
a plot against him.
Said Shimon to his brothers: “So you did to Joseph, and so you wish to do
to me.”
“What can we do?” they replied. “Are the members of our household to die
of famine?”
“Do as you wish,” he told them. “Now I will see who will put me into
prison.”
Joseph then sent to Pharaoh with the request, “Send me seventy of your
mighty men, for I have found robbers and desire to put them in chains.”
When he sent them, Joseph’s brethren looked to see what he would do.
“Throw this man into prison,” Joseph ordered them. But as they approached
him, Shimon cried out aloud at them; on hearing his voice they fell on their
faces and their teeth were broken...
Now Manasseh was sitting before his father, and his father said to him:
“You rise.” Immediately Manasseh arose, gave him one blow, threw him
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When Joseph arrives at the house,
Mikeitz
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Torah Reading for Week of December 21-27, 2003
Jacob reluctantly gives his assent, and advises them to take
along a gift for this mysterious stranger who is causing them
so much trouble. The brothers journey to Egypt with
Benjamin.
In Joseph’s House
In contrast to their prior experience, a most genial reception
awaits them in Egypt. Joseph has left instructions that they
be honored with an invitation to his home for the noonday
meal; Shimon is restored to them; and they are told by the
manager of Joseph’s household not to worry about the money
they found in their sacks-”Your money has come to me,” he
reassures them.
Commentary
into prison, and put him in fetters. Said Shimon: “This is a blow from our
family.”
(Midrash Rabbah; Tanchuma)
AND JOSEPH’S BROTHERS CAME, AND BOWED THEMSELVES DOWN BEFORE
AND JOSEPH REMEMBERED THE DREAMS WHICH HE HAD DREAMED
ABOUT THEM, AND HE SAID TO THEM, “YOU ARE SPIES...” (42:6-9)
HIM...
Many of the commentaries raise the question: Why did not Joseph notify his
father, in all these years, that he was alive? Perhaps there was no way he
could have done this in the thirteen years that he was a slave and a prisoner, but certainly it was within his power, as viceroy of Egypt (a position he
assumed nine years before his reunion with his father), to send a message
to Canaan?
Several commentaries cite the Midrash Tanchuma, which describes an
“oath and curse” (cherem) which the nine brothers who sold Joseph pronounced to forbid anyone to reveal their deed to their father. Needing a tenth
participant to effect the cherem (Reuben was not present at the selling of
Joseph), they made G-d a partner to their oath. And G-d collaborated with
them, for the sale of Joseph was integral to His “awesome plot” to bring the
Children of Israel to Egypt. (Rashi explains that this was why Isaac, who,
being a prophet, knew what happened, did not reveal the truth to Jacob, reasoning, “How can I reveal it, if G-d does not wish to reveal it to him?”).
Since disbanding a cherem requires the parties who imposed it, Joseph had
to first reveal himself to his brothers and be reconciled with them.
The “Sages of the Tosafot” commentary also gives the following explanation: Joseph was afraid that if he informed his father of what happened to
him, his brothers would disperse and scatter to the north and to the south out
of shame before their father and fear of Joseph’s vengeance; that would
have spelled the end of the Jewish nation. So Joseph first had to reconcile
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he asked them of their welfare, and said: “Is your father
well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”
And they answered: “Your servant our father is well, he is
still alive.”
He lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his
mother’s son. And he said: “Is this your younger brother,
of whom you spoke to me? ...”
And Joseph made haste, for his affection was kindled
towards his brother; and he sought where to weep. And
he entered into his chamber, and wept there.
And he washed his face, and went out, and restrained
himself, and said: “Set on bread.”
And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who did eat with them, by
themselves; because the Egyptians cannot eat bread with
the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
Joseph astounds them by seating them around the table in the
order of their birth and exhibiting additional knowledge about
himself with them, and convince them and his father that it was all ordained
from Above.
Nachmanides writes:
Joseph had had two dreams — one in which his eleven brothers’ sheaves
bowed to his, and a second dream in which the sun, moon and eleven stars
bowed to him. He knew that they were both ordained to be fulfilled exactly as foretold, and in the order in which the dreams appeared to him..
This explains why Joseph acted as he did. For one might wonder: since
Joseph was already established in Egypt for many years, and was a high
official and a minister there, why did he not send a single letter to his father
to notify him and comfort him? Hebron is just a six-days’ journey from
Egypt! Certainly his father would have ransomed him for any sum of
money. But the dreams dictated that they would bow to him—something
which Joseph understood would take place in Egypt, the place where he was
gaining sovereignty and power. The dreams also dictated that, at first, only
his brothers will bow to him, and that only on a second occasion will his
entire family, including his father and (adoptive mother) Bilhah, do so. Had
Joseph notified his father, Jacob would certainly have immediately come to
him—contrary to how things were ordained in his dreams.s.
So Joseph waited for his brothers to come to Egypt to purchase food. But
when they came and bowed to him there were only ten of them, so he knew
that the first dream had not yet been fulfilled. He therefore had to devise a
ploy that would compel them to bring Benjamin—without revealing his
identity. Only after Benjamin had come and bowed together with his other
brothers could Joseph notify his father and cause the second dream to be
fulfilled as well..
Also the other ploy he devised—by planting the goblet in Benjamin’s
sack—was not to cause them suffering, but to be certain that his brothers
did not harbor any jealousy toward Benjamin because of their father’s preference of him, as they had towards himself. He therefore had to test their
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Canaan; would we then steal out of your lord’s house silver or gold?”
“With whomever of your servants it be found,” they boldly
proclaim, “he shall die; and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”
Mikeitz
Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the
ground, and opened every man his sack.
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Torah Reading for Week of December 21-27, 2003
And he searched, and began at the eldest, and ended at
the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
them (which he claims to divine by means of his magic goblet).
They eat and drink together, and Joseph bestows many gifts
on them. In the morning they set out to return to Canaan,
but not before Joseph’s steward, acting on his master’s
instructions, plants the “magic” silver goblet in Benjamin’s
sack.
Soon Joseph’s steward is chasing after them. “Why have you
rewarded evil for good?” he accuses them. “Why, this is [the
goblet] from which my lord drinks, and whereby indeed he
divines. You have done evil in so doing.”
And they said to him: “Why does my lord say these
words? Far be it from your servants to do a thing like
that. Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’
mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of
Commentary
love and devotion towards Benjamin before he could allow him to go with
them.
AND JOSEPH’S BROTHERS CAME, AND BOWED THEMSELVES DOWN BEFORE
HIM... AND [JOSEPH] MADE HIMSELF STRANGE TO THEM... (42:6-7)
This was the moment, foretold by Joseph’s dreams, which his brothers had
resisted and fought against so bitterly. Had they been aware that the person
whom they were bowing to was Joseph, they would have experienced a profound sense of defeat. This is why Joseph did not immediately reveal himself—he could not bring himself to subject them to such humiliation..
(Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev)
JOSEPH RECOGNIZED HIS BROTHERS, BUT THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM
(42:8)
Because when he left them they were already bearded, whilst he had not yet
grown a bread.
(Rashi)
They rent their clothes, and loaded every man his ass,
and returned to the city.
When Joseph confronts them with their deed, Judah says:
“What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak, or
how shall we clear ourselves? G-d has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s slaves,
both we, and he also with whom the cup is found.”
To which Joseph responds:
“Far be it from me that I should do such a thing. The
man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my
slave; and as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
And with this test of the brothers’ loyalty the section of
Mikeitz concludes.
They could not understand how Joseph can be a man of the world, a “fortuitous achiever” in commerce and politics, and at the same time remain
completely bound to G-d in his every moment and every endeavor.
(Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi)
AND HE SAID TO THEM: “YOU ARE SPIES” (42:9)
There is a Midrash that says that the brothers plotted to kill Joseph in order
to prevent the birth of Jeroboam ben Nebat—one of the most sinful and
destructive personalities in Jewish history (cf. I Kings ch. 10 ff.)—who was
a descendent of Joseph.
So when Joseph accused them of being spies—an accusation they were
innocent of, but which portended the sin of the “Spies” of which their
descendents would be guilty in the time of Moses—they realized their
error.....
(This also explains why Jacob would not accept Reuben as a guarantor for
Benjamin’s safety, only the guarantorship of Judah. If the brothers were
being made to pay for the sin of the Spies, the only one who could save
them was Judah, since Caleb, the spy from the tribe of Judah, did not join
in the Spies’ conspiracy.)
BUT THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM (42:8)
The brothers could not comprehend Joseph’s manner of serving G-d. Like
their fathers before them, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph’s brothers were
shepherds—a vocation which takes a person far from the tumult and vanities of society to a life of seclusion and communion with nature. As such,
they could turn their backs on the mundane affairs of man, contemplate the
majesty of the Creator, and serve Him with a clear mind and tranquil heart..
Seasons of the Soul | Parshah | Week at Glance
(Meloh HaOmer)
WE ARE ALL THE SONS OF ONE MAN (42:11)
A spark of prophecy was enkindled in them and they said to him, unwittingly: You and we are the sons of the same man.
(Midrash Rabbah)
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The Midrash says that the reason why the famine was ordained, causing all
the wealth of the world to flow to Egypt, was to bring about the fulfillment
of the Divine promise to Abraham (Genesis 15:14), “And afterwards they
(the children of Israel) will go out (from Egypt) with great wealth.”
Mikeitz
Hence Joseph ordered the money returned to them: why take money from
them, if the money is being collected for them?
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Torah Reading for Week of December 21-27, 2003
This is the true meaning of the statement, “Your money has come to me”the money coming to me from all over the world is, in truth, your money.
Commentary
(Rabbi Menachem of Amshinov)
AND HE PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER INTO CUSTODY FOR THREE DAYS (42:17)
Corresponding to the three days in which they had plotted and executed the
destruction of Shechem.
They had convinced the inhabitants of Shechem to circumcise themselves
in order to kill them; Joseph had done the very opposite: he compelled the
Egyptians to circumcise themselves and then proceeded to sustain them and
save their lives.
(Zohar)
AND [JOSEPH] TOOK SHIMON FROM THEM, AND BOUND HIM BEFORE THEIR
(42:24)
“IS YOUR FATHER WELL, THE OLD MAN OF WHOM YOU SPOKE? IS HE STILL
(43:27-28)
ALIVE?”
Rabbi Chiyya the Elder (who had moved from Babylonia to the Holy Land)
met a Babylonian and asked him, “How is my father”? Replied he, “Your
mother has inquired about you.” (Thus he gently intimated that Rabbi
Chiyya’s father was dead.)
By the same token, when Joseph asked, “Is your father well?” he was
inquiring after Jacob; “The old man of whom you spoke?” was a reference
to Isaac. To which they replied: “Your servant our father is well, he is still
alive.” (Isaac had died ten years earlier, a year before Joseph was released
from prison).
EYES
Only before their eyes did he bind him; but as soon as they left, he brought
him out, gave him to eat and drink, and bathed and anointed him.
(Midrash Rabbah)
AND JUDAH SAID TO ISRAEL HIS FATHER: “... I SHALL BE GUILTY TOWARDS
YOU FOR ALL ETERNITY” (43:8-9)
A decree of ostracism (nidduy), even if self-imposed, and even if made on
a condition that is not fulfilled, requires absolution. From where is this
derived? From Judah. For it is written, “And Judah said to Israel his father:
‘... If I bring him not to you, and set him before you, then I shall be guilty
towards you for all eternity.’” Because of these words, all through the forty
years that Israel remained in the wilderness Judah’s bones were jolted about
in their coffin, until Moses stood up and supplicated for mercy on his behalf
(despite the fact that Judah did bring back Benjamin alive and well).
(Talmud, Makot 11b)
[AND JOSEPH] SAID TO THE OVERSEER OF HIS HOUSE: “BRING THESE MEN
HOME, AND SLAUGHTER A BEAST, AND MAKE IT READY; FOR THE MEN SHALL
DINE WITH ME AT NOON”
(43:16)
“Slaughter a beast”-uncover for them the neck (to show them that it has
been properly slaughtered); “and make it ready”-remove the sciatic nerve in
their presence.
(Midrash Rabbah)
AND HE ENTERED INTO HIS CHAMBER, AND WEPT THERE (43:30)
He wept also after Isaac, whom he did not pay his final kindness.
(Midrash HaChafetz)
THE EGYPTIANS CANNOT EAT BREAD WITH THE HEBREWS, FOR THAT IS AN
EGYPTIANS (43:32)
ABOMINATION TO THE
Because the Hebrews eat the animal (the sheep) which is worshipped by the
Egyptians.
(Onkelus)
AND THEY SAT BEFORE HIM, THE FIRSTBORN ACCORDING TO HIS
BIRTHRIGHT, AND THE YOUNGEST ACCORDING TO HIS YOUTH; AND THE MEN
MARVELED ONE AT ANOTHER (43:33)
When they came to recline [at the meal] he took the cup, struck it, and
declared: “Reuben, Shimon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun are the sons
of one mother. Where are they? Bring them and let them sit together. Dan
and Naftali are the sons of one mother; bring them and let them sit together. Gad and Asher are the sons of one mother; bring them and let them sit
together.” Thus Benjamin was left. Said he: “He is motherless and I am
motherless, so he and I will sit together.”
(Midrash Rabbah; Rashi)
(Talmud, Chulin 91a)
“YOUR MONEY HAS COME TO ME” (43:23)
This seems to be other than the truth, since Joseph had, in fact, returned the
money to them?
Seasons of the Soul | Parshah | Week at Glance
AND BENJAMIN’S PORTION WAS FIVE TIMES AS MUCH AS ANY OF THEIRS. AND
(43:34)
THEY DRANK AND BECAME INTOXICATED WITH HIM
From the day that Joseph departed from his brothers he did not taste wine,
and they too did not taste wine, until this occasion.
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“BEHOLD, THE MONEY, WHICH WE FOUND IN OUR SACKS’ MOUTHS, WE
BROUGHT AGAIN TO YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF CANAAN; WOULD WE THEN
STEAL OUT OF YOUR LORD’S HOUSE SILVER OR GOLD?” (44:8)
Mikeitz
This is one of the ten instances of kal vachomer (a priori) arguments to be
found in the Torah.
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Torah Reading for Week of December 21-27, 2003
(Rashi)
AND THE CUP WAS FOUND IN BENJAMIN’S SACK (44:12)
(Talmud, Shabbat 139a)
Why did the brothers, who had no way of knowing that they were united
with their lost brother, drink?
But when they saw that they had no feelings of envy toward Benjamin, who
had received preferential treatment from Joseph, they understood that they
had overcome the root cause of Joseph’s sale and had fully repented their
sin.
When it was thus found they exclaimed to him: “What! You are the thief
and the son of a thief! (i.e., Rachel, who stole Laban’s idols)” To which he
retorted: “Have we a he-goat here? Have we here brothers who sold their
brother!”
AND JUDAH SAID: “...WHAT SHALL WE SPEAK, OR HOW SHALL WE CLEAR OURSELVES? G-D HAS FOUND OUT THE INEQUITY OF YOUR SERVANTS” (44:16)
We know that we have not sinned in this matter, but this has been brought
about by G-d; our Creditor has found from where to exact His debt.
(Rashi)
(Kav Chen)
AND HE COMMANDED THE STEWARD OF HIS HOUSE, SAYING: “... PUT MY CUP,
THE SILVER CUP, IN THE MOUTH OF THE SACK OF THE YOUNGEST” (44:1-2)
Joseph wished to test his brother’s love for Benjamin his brother, to see if
they would be ready to sacrifice themselves for his sake.
(Midrash)
AS SOON AS THE MORNING WAS LIGHT, THE MEN WERE SENT AWAY... (44:3)
A person should always leave the city by ki tov (“because it is good”-a reference to the light of day) and enter it by ki tov, as it is written: “As soon as
the morning was light, the men were sent away.”
(Talmud, Taanit 10b)
There was once a certain innkeeper in the South who used to arise in the
night, put on his clothes and say to his guests, “Arise and go out, for a caravan is passing.” They would go out, whereupon a robber band would fall
upon and kill them, and then enter the inn and share the spoil with him.
On one occasion Rabbi Meir came there and was received as a guest. [The
host] arose, dressed, and said to him, “Arise and go out, as a caravan is passing.” “I have a brother for whom I must remain here and wait,” he
answered. “Where is he?” he asked. “In the Synagogue.” “Tell me his name,
and I will go and call him,” he urged. “His name is Ki Tov,” he replied. The
innkeeper went and spent the whole of the night calling out “Ki Tov!” at the
door of the Synagogue, but none responded. In the morning Rabbi Meir
arose, put his baggage on his ass and was about to go, when the innkeeper
asked him, “Where is your brother? “Behold, here it is,” he told him, “for
it is written (Genesis 1:4), ‘And God saw the light ki tov (“that it was
good”).’”
(Midrash Rabbah)
Seasons of the Soul | Parshah | Week at Glance
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FROM THE CHASSIDIC MASTERS
THE COSMIC FANTASY
A significant part of our Parshah is taken up with a pair
of dreams dreamt by the king of Egypt. These dreams are
actually recounted not once, but three times: first we read
an account of the dreams themselves; then comes a more
detailed version, as we hear them described by Pharaoh to
Joseph; and then comes Joseph’s reply to Pharaoh, in
which he offers his interpretation of the dreams’ various
components.
And these are but the last in a sequence of dreams
detailed by the Torah in the preceding chapters. Joseph is
in Pharaoh’s palace interpreting his dreams because of
another set of dreams, dreamt two years earlier in an
Egyptian prison. Back then, Joseph was incarcerated
together with two of Pharaoh’s ministers, each of whom
had a dream which Joseph successfully interpreted.
And why was Joseph in that Egyptian prison in the first
place? Because eleven years before that, his repeated
retelling of his own two dreams had intensified his brothers’ envy of him, provoking them to sell him into slavery.
Indeed, Joseph carries every detail of his two dreams with
him wherever he goes, and they serve as the basis for his
seemingly strange treatment of his brothers and father
many years later, when he is ruler of Egypt and his brothers come from famine-stricken Canaan to purchase food
(see Nachmanides commentary on Genesis 42:9).
The result of all this dreaming was the Egyptian galut
(exile)—the first galut experienced by the Jewish people
and the source of all their subsequent exiles. The Children
of Israel settled in Egypt, where they were later enslaved
by the Egyptians, and where they deteriorated spiritually
to the extent that, in many respects, they came to resemble their enslavers. When G-d came to redeem them, He
had to “take a nation from the innards of a nation,” entering into the bowels of Egypt to extract His chosen people
from the most depraved society on earth.
In the 3,300 years since, we have undergone many
more centuries of galut, as we came under the hegemony
of Babylonians and Persians, Greeks and Romans,
Christians and Communists. We are still in galut today.
We may be free, on the whole, of the persecutions and
hardships we experienced in earlier generations, but the
Jew is still a stranger in the world, still deprived of the
environment that nurtures his soul and feeds his aspirations. And galut in all its guises, our sages tell us, is the
outgrowth of our first galut in Egypt. Rabbi Schneur
Zalman of Liadi explains that galut was born out of a succession of dreams because galut is the ultimate dream. A
dream is perception without the discipline of reason. Here
Seasons of the Soul | Parshah | Week at Glance
are all the stimuli and experiences we know from real
life—sights and sounds, thoughts and action, exhilaration and dread. Indeed, everything in a dream is borrowed from our waking lives. But everything is topsyturvy, defying all norms of logic and credulity. In a
dream, a tragedy might be a cause for celebration, a parent might be younger than his child, and a cow may jump
over the moon.
Galut is a dream—a terrible, irrational fantasy embracing the globe and spanning millennia. A dream in which
crime pays, the good die young, and G-d’s chosen people
are slaughtered with impunity. A dream in which what is
right and true is seldom “realistic,” and nonentities such
as “ignorance,” “death” and “evil” are potent forces in
our lives. The surreality of galut pervades our spiritual
lives as well. Only in galut can a person arise in the
morning, purify himself in a mikvah, pray with ecstasy
and devotion, study a chapter of Torah, and then proceed
to the office for a business day of connivance and deceit.
“Hypocrisy” is not an adequate description of this phenomenon—in many cases, his prayer is sincere, and his
love and awe of G-d quite real. But he inhabits the
dream-world of galut, where antitheses coexist and
inconsistencies are the norm.
In the real world, such absurdities were impossible.
When the Holy Temple stood in Jerusalem and bathed the
world in Divine daylight, no man with a residue of spiritual impurity (tum’ah) could approach G-d until he had
undergone a process of purification. That G-d is the
source of life and that sin (i.e., disconnection from the
Divine) is synonymous with death was no mere conceptual truth, but a fact of life. In the real world that was, and
to which we will awake when the dream of galut will
evaporate, the spiritual laws of reality are as apparent and
as immutable as—indeed more apparent and immutable
than—the physical laws of nature.
However, says the Lubavitcher Rebbe, there is also a
positive side to our present-day hallucinatory existence.
In the real world, a true relationship with G-d can come
only in the context of a life consistently faithful to Him;
in the dreamworld of galut, the imperfect individual can
experience the Divine. In the real world, only the impeccable soul can enter into the Sanctuary of G-d; in the
dreamworld of galut, G-d “resides amongst them, in the
midst of their impurity.”
We daily await the Divine dawn that will dispel the
cosmic fantasy which, for much of our history, has crippled us physically and spiritually. But in the moments
remaining to the dream of galut, let us avail ourselves of
the unique opportunity to be “inconsistent” and “hypocritical” in the positive sense: by overreaching our spiritual capacity, by being and doing more than we are able
by any rational measure of our merit and potential.
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